A brand consists of a number of important media items such as firstly, the most important one -
1. A logo design, a logo that is effective, simple, easy to read, easy to understand and memorable.
2. A set of Stationery Items or Brand Identity also called Business Identity, a set of stationery including a letterhead, envelope, with compliment slip and business card, other items that should be considered are a professional invoice, brochure and electronic letterhead.  All these items are considered marketing materials and they should compliment your logo and the logo’s fonts and colours.
3. A Website, a website design that is professionally designed and developed that it works meaning that it serves its purpose and is SEO (Search Engine Friendly) and user firendly and attracts the attention that you desire for your business.  There are many companies that provide web design/development services but how much creativity do they have? it is essential that the web design company has graphic designers to design your website and web developers to develop the website so that your website is attractive and functional.

So, when starting a business think of  brand building  (building your brand) as an investment and then enjoy great returns!

A good Logo Design is simple, creative and memorable, if it is easy to reproduce it is memorable.  The logo serves its purpose and communicates the message that you want to communicate to your target market group without necessarily being too obvious, the way it communicates your message is simple and abstract.  A great logo design is appropriate for all uses whether it may be a website, brand identity, business card or any other uses.  The colours of the logo should be kept simple also, as too many colours will avoid making the logo memorable, most famous logos don’t have more than two colours.

Most people prefer and remember logos that are simple & memorable, uncomplicated logos.  For example, Nike, HP, Apple, they are simple aren’t they?

 
So when you are in the process of having your logo design created, remember – simple and memorable equals effective!

When selecting colours for different backgrounds it is important to consider how well the text and image colours of the logo suit the background colour, it is important that the logo still looks great and is also readable. For example; when choosing a dark background colour you should choose logo colours that are light and when choosing to go with a light background colour it is best to choose dark or medium shade colours for your logo. Appearance is important when it comes to your logo and if the logo looks attractive it will be memorable and therefore should help your business grab the attention it deserves.

Below are three examples of background colours and logo colours that work great together.

Many entrepreneurs choose to design their own marketing materials when they launch their businesses, especially by creating their first business card. Or sometimes they will have an amateur designer, friend, or relative create the design or they buy a template and print the business cards on their own home printer. There are several reasons why this is not the best idea.

The business will not look reputable - Prospective clients will not have confidence in dealing with the business, there will be no trust. If presentation is not good they will just turn away and go somewhere else. If they see an unprofessional logo and a business card printed on thin paper and cut with scissors they are not going to trust you.

The message that you will send is that the business is very small - Large and successful businesses start with stable marketing materials starting from a unique image, their company logo. For example; IBM, Microsoft, coca-cola, puma they all have a professional business image that sends a very clear message to the customers, that they are trusting, large, professional, reputable, established and that it is not very likely for the company to disappear from one day to another.

Unprofessional and uncoordinated marketing materials can hurt your business image - Instead of selling you might actually be driving customers away and giving them to your competitors.

What is a business image?

The business image is the representation of the business, it represents the name, the locality, the products and services, the owners and everyone who will be a part of that business.

How important is it to have a business image?

A company logo is it’s credibility, professionalism, visibility and it’s the way that people will remember your company. The logo and marketing materials are marketing tools that you use to grab the attention of your target market. If they are good, well presented and well designed they will bring you many clients and at the end it will not only be a cost for your business but a great investment.  So remember it pays to pay for a professional company to design your logo and it is not as expensive as you might imagine.

Logoland Design is an Australian design company that provides businesses with quality and affordable design services.  Visit www.logoland.com.au for more information on packages and pricing.

In the past some new companies paid up to three thousand dollars to have a logo designed and they did not even receive the main source file (Ai) at the end, all they were given were a few jpg and pdf files if they were lucky but now it is much more common for design companies to give clients much more for much less, they get all of the files and even a style guide with their logo specifications of the colors and fonts used but still be ware of companies that don’t provide the main source file. 

Plus by being able to order a logo design online you save money on fuel, you save time and receive your logo in almost no time and the best thing is that you get the same or even better service. 

It is important to confirm that the company you choose has experienced designers and that they are not using unprofessional cheaper services from overseas, it is important that it is a professional company rather than just one designer that is only interested in the money. It can also help to be careful not to have your logo that you will use for a lifetime designed in a logo competition or freelancer biding website as usually these type of designers may not have the necessary experience in research, planning, design and logo finalising areas and this could be more costly later, as an example; imagine that your logo colours are not correctly finalised and then when you have your stationery designed the colours are wrong and need to be modified and you can’t find the designer or you lose your logo files from where they were stored and you don’t have the designer to contact and get your files again. A freelancer biding site may promise you 100 logos, but how many of them will really be useful? how many of them will be designed by real designers, how many of them will be designed by high school kids that need pocket money? These are things that need to be considered, not only how much a logo will cost.

Andrea, Logoland Australia – www.logoland.com.au, a truly professional design company!

Step 1- Creative brief

The creative brief is important to be able to determine the needs of the company including the target market, what their products and services are and any ideas that the client wants to share with the designers.  A good detailed creative brief that asks the right questions is important to be able to achieve a good logo design that suits the company it will represent. 

It is also important for the client to provide useful information in regards to their company, their target market, their competitors and supply any images of logos or sketches of the kind of logos that appeal to them or that they think may be appropriate to the field they specialize in.  A professional logo design process should include a detailed creative brief that asks the questions needed to gather the correct information to be able to design the correct logo, research and analysis, procedures to achieve design work within certain timeframes, order and organisation.

Step 2- Research and Analysis

We analyse the creative brief and research the company, including any contacts of websites provided, the competitors, the target market, the colors and descriptions of the clients ideas for the logo.  Any images or logos provided.  This is important to be able to determine what kind of image suits the company.  We make sure that their logo will not be the same to other logos and most importantly logos of companies that are in their industry or that offer the same product or service.

Step 3- Initial Design

The design begins and we design the initial concepts based on the information provided on the creative brief.  Sometimes we sketch the logo first if the logo is illustrative, otherwise we begin with the graphical design of the logo.  The designers design the initial concepts and then send them to the client for revision.   The client must review the concepts and decide on one of the concepts to continue with.  The client also sends any necessary feedback and states any modifications to be performed on that concept.

Step 4- Final Logo

The logo is modified until the final desired look is achieved.  The logo is then prepared for print and web and any other uses for the logo.  The logo is flattened and all type is set with created outlines.  The logo is then prepared in CMYK and RGB.  The CMYK file is also saved in pdf, eps, MS-Word, pct and any other necessary print ready files.  The RGB logo is prepared for the web and includes files such as jpg, gif and png.  The logo is also prepared in monochrome (Black & White) for non-color printing.  The main aim is to provide many file types including file types that clients may be more familiar with and provide various sizes for more choice of uses.

The images below show how a logo is modified and transformed during the design process:  By: P.Gallardo – Manager Logoland Design Australia.

The face of the company that it represents.  A logo usually is a symbol of the name of the company or their products and/or services.  When considering a logo design one should take into account the colors they use depending on what it is that their company offers, for example; Mc Donald’s use yellow and red – these colors represent warmth and happiness.  These colors are psychologically associated with food, therefore when a person sees the logo their mind immediately responds to the colors and associates the logo to food.

The design is important, the logo should convey the right message.  The logo should be simple and easy for the viewer to understand, this can be easily achieved by avoiding complex images and too many colors.

The logo is an important part of the company and are usually designed to stay with the company for a large amount of years.  But sometimes even large companies have re-designed or modernized their company logos to suit the new generation.

One example is Adidas founded by Adolf (Adi) Dassler

First logo designed in 1972

New Logo designed in 1996

A logo should be designed to fit it’s purpose.  Therefore the logo should be designed to be suitable for all it’s uses.  That can be: a website, printed materials, signs and clothing amongst others.  This is done by considering the amount of colors used and the overall design approach taken to design the logo e.g using a silhouette instead of a very complex image with many lines and colors.

Any effective logo design should last a lifetime, it should be simple, memorable and easy to replicate, a logo design that others will look up to.

Posted by P. Gallardo | Logoland Australia
www.logoland.com.au